More than half of Russia's backbone fiber-optic communication lines have exceeded their 25-year warranty life. Bandwidth and signal transmission range are decreasing, which creates a risk of internet outages. This is stated in the draft strategy of the Ministry of Digital Development until 2035.
The total length of backbone communication lines in Russia exceeds 1.46 million km. More than 400 thousand km of cable with an operating life of over 20 years need to be replaced. At an average cost of about 1 million rubles per kilometer, modernization will cost 400 billion rubles – approximately 40 thousand km per year. The main part of the lines was built in the early 2000s.
Operators claim that the expiration of the warranty does not mean failure. Diagnostics and targeted replacement as the fiber degrades allow networks to be maintained. MTS is modernizing 293 thousand km, planning to update infrastructure in 29 regions by the end of 2028 with investments of more than 22 billion rubles.
Over 10 years, traffic has grown tenfold, to 218.8 exabytes. The load on worn-out lines is increasing, and building new ones requires time and money. Without accelerating replacement, the risk of outages will accumulate.
Read more on the topic:
- Russian fiber optic cable turned into 400 sensors using AI
- Optical fiber helped make powerful lasers more stable: discovery made by scientists from Novosibirsk
- After the shutdown of Russia's only optical fiber plant, imports are allowed only until 2027